Germany arrests three Chinese spies for espionage
On Sunday, the counterintelligence agency of Germany arrested three people, spying for the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), in the German states of Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. The federal prosecutor’s office in Germany has stated that the main accused, named Thomas R., was arrested on charges of spying for China.
The individual named Thomas R. is suspected to have acted as an espionage agent for a Chinese Ministry of State Security employee (MSS), passing on sensitive state secrets about German military technologies.
#SpyNews – Three German citizens have been arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
Via @guardian: “The three are accused of passing on technical military knowhow to Chinese authorities in return for money. The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said it could be… pic.twitter.com/CTR5yxgTZK
— The International Spy Museum (@IntlSpyMuseum) April 23, 2024
In addition to the main suspect, two other individuals—Herwig F. and Ina F., a married couple and operators of a Düsseldorf-based company—were working with Thomas, establishing vital connections within the German scientific community, including researchers and scholars working in German state universities.
The office further stated, “Allegations suggest the suspects have had ties to a Chinese secret service since before June 2022.”
The arrests come days after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Beijing and spoke against China’s economic and diplomatic support for Russia since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.
He also conveyed the growing concern of Europe about China’s disregard for international anti-espionage policies, as evident by the secret offices of Chinese police and the secret service in the United Kingdom.
Germany is under threat of Chinese espionage
According to reports, the main suspect, Thomas R., is accused of passing on sensitive information about Germany’s military technology to an employee of MSS.
Prosecutors have alleged that Thomas and the two other suspects had set up a dummy company front in the country that contacted people working in science and research in a bid to steal state military secrets that could be useful to China.
Authorities believe that a first project about the operation of high-performance marine engines to be used on combat ships has already been passed by the suspects to their contact in the MSS.
At the time of their arrest, the suspects were in the midst of further negotiations with their Chinese contacts on other projects that could be useful for China’s navy.
The trio is also accused of exporting a laser into China, a technology banned under the European Union’s “dual use” regulations. The policy strictly prohibits sending goods that can be exploited for military and civilian purposes to several countries.
Foreign security experts across the EU have alleged that the level of high-profile Chinese espionage being seen today has increased dramatically over the past decades.
A BBC report published last year stated that global security agencies like MI5 were aware of the growing problem of Chinese espionage, which now includes not only state secrets but also cutting-edge innovations developed by smaller companies and research organisations that do not anticipate espionage attempts by China.
Following the arrests on Sunday, Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Fraser has said, “The arrests were a great success for our counterintelligence, as the area affected in the current case—innovative technologies from Germany that can be used for military purposes—is particularly sensitive.”.
Germany’s Arrests Put ‘Chinese Espionage’ Back in the Spotlight
Many nations in the EU have reported simultaneous counts of intellectual property theft occurring over the past few years. Despite China rejecting allegations of espionage every time, citing them as “anti-China propaganda,”.
Back in 2022, the chief of the United Kingdom’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, Ken McCallum, stated that over 20,000 start-ups, businesses, and individuals were approached by Chinese individuals through popular social networking sites like LinkedIn in a bid to steal their research.
Most of these firms or individuals never anticipate such an “epic scale” of espionage and oftentimes end up revealing secrets that will give China an upper hand.
The arrests on Sunday have brought back into the limelight the massive scale of espionage China has resorted to over time. Being a main technology producer on the global front, such unlawful attempts to access sensitive technologies being developed in the EU have brought China into the scrutiny of world governments.
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